Symptoms Of You
by disolvedspine
Summary: AU. Smitchie. Nalex. Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without.
1. Prologue

_A/N: _Hey! This is my first fan fic, not ever, but the first I'm posting here, so please go easy on me :) Also I think you should know English is not my first language so I might have a couple of mistakes, I try my best though! This is a Smitchie & a Nalex (A WWOP Crossover!) And well just please let me know if you want me to go on with the story, this is a bit short but it's only the prologue, I love getting reviews that are constructive! Thanks for reading!

**Symptoms Of You  
**

_You might think that I'm a fool for falling over you, so tell what can I do._

She had no idea how in the world she had ended up here.

And by here of course she meant standing in the center of the stage, playing the leading role in the school play, all her classmates eyes fixated on her, waiting for her to sing. She turned to her right, ready to run away, who cared if she turned into the joke of the whole school. They didn't know her. They didn't care, and she knew that now. But when she turned she saw him. Impeccable, dressed in his costume, waiting for her to begin. He wasn't even looking at her, not really. He was just staring. His eyes showed that cold stare he had been giving her for the past four weeks.

One month. Four weeks. Thirty days. Seven hundred hours. Forty-three thousand two hundred minutes. Two million six seventy eight thousand four hundred seconds.

She couldn't take it anymore.

A year before she wouldn't have cared if Shane Gray didn't know she was sharing oxygen with him, but now she felt like she couldn't breathe if he didn't. She turned to the audience again. She was sure only a few seconds since her panic attack had begun had passed but it felt like she had been standing in front of a silent audience her whole life. Everyone staring. She spotted Alex in the back. She was doing strange gestures with her hands, telling her to start singing, she thought. She saw Jason standing besides Alex, smiling and nodding at her. She knew she had to do something eventually. She was going to run away. To face her biggest fear and make a big dramatic scene instead of staying and making a fool out of herself by singing in front of the whole school. She turned to her left. She didn't want to see the disappointment written all over his face when she ran away. _Disappointment? Who are you kidding Mitchie? He doesn't care. _

And then she felt it.


	2. Don't Trust Me

_A/N: _Thank you for the reviews and for the story alerts! Seriously I loved them! Please drop me a review if you can, I'd love to know what you think about it. Anyway here goes the first chapter!

**Chapter 1  
**

_No one knows who you are, just another girl alone at the bar._

Michelle Torres, Mitchie like her best friend liked to call her, was if possible the most invisible person to ever walk her High School. Nobody really knew who she was and she didn't mind it. She wasn't like the other juniors, who walked around the hallways playing '_who can wear less clothes_' or '_who can get the Nate's attention_'. She didn't need to be part of the '_cool_' group of people. Hanging out with Alex was more than enough for her. The thing was....it was kind of hard to remain invisible when you were with Alex.

"C'mon get out of my way! I'm trying to make it to my class sometime this century!"

Mitchie rolled her eyes as she heard Alex approaching, she was probably screaming to Tess or some of those girls who walked around in five inches heels, obviously at snail pace. She finished grabbing some books from her locker and when she closed it she found Alex standing there. Alex grinned and started rambling about how Justin was the worst brother ever and has exchanged her apple shampoo with oil. She also said something about putting an unknown substance into his breakfast but Mitchie didn't want to hear about that. She enjoyed Alex's relationship and constant fights with her brothers, since she was an only child and all. Mitchie smiled and turned around to start walking but when she noticed Alex wasn't following her she turned again only to notice she was cornered against the lockers.

"Baby" The guy said as Alex rolled her eyes and crossed her hands over her chest. "It's been a long weekend, I missed you." He continued, Alex gagged. "Have you think about what I said, you, me, the movies, my arm around you?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh that's cute! You, me, the movies, you covered in my vomit." Alex grinned and placed a hand on his chest, he held it against it with one of his hands.

"My heart only beats for you Alex." He said and a second later Alex started laughing.

"That's rich Gray. You've been going over your script, haven't you? Now let me go before I start kicking you where it hurts." He moved his arms but when she tried to walk away he grabbed her hand and made her turn, left her standing really close to him.

"You know you want me." he whispered and then turned around and left, leaving a fuming Alex behind.

Everyone else, who was obviously staring at the little scene, turned around and pretended to be minding their own business. Alex just turned and started stomping towards her next class.

Mitchie laughed, she had to witness those little scenes everyday. Nate was the youngest Gray and unluckily for Alex, Justin's best friend. He had decided that he wanted her ever since she had returned from summer camp, as he had so sweetly put it, '_and became a woman_'. Justin didn't seem to mind this, Mitchie thought it was because he knew someone like Alex, rebellious and independent at heart, would never date a Nate, the golden boy of school, quarterback of the football team, straight A student, all the girls at his feet, in fact the only one that qualified worst than Nate in Alex's book was her older brother Justin. Nate's constant appearances was what made it difficult for Alex to be invisible, since she was, well, one of the top three most hated girls at school.

Mitchie waved Alex goodbye, she was in such deep conversation with herself that she didn't notice, and walked into her advanced literature class. This was the second week of school and she had decided to try something new, a recommendation of her teacher, the thing was this class was full of seniors and it kind of intimidated her. So she got there a little bit early to sit on the back and remain unnoticed. But when she entered the empty classroom, not even the teacher was there yet, she noticed that someone was already there, sitting at a corner in the back of the class. She tried not to make a lot of noise but she accidentally bumped into a chair when she was making her way to the back, which made the person jump in his sit. He looked up and after staring at her for a minute he looked down again, focusing on his notebook.

Mitchie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

She scanned her mind and tried to remember if she had ever heard anybody talk about a raven haired boy who was apparently, a loner. She bit her lip as she sat down and turned her head a bit to give him a good look. Nope. She couldn't remember seeing him ever, but there was something strangely familiar about him. She stared a him for a bit longer and the bell rang and everyone walked into the class so she sat up straight and looked to the front. The room was suddenly filled with voices and people Mitchie didn't know until an old man walked in. The room silenced and it took about ten minutes until he settled down in the desk and started reading some papers.

"Let's see..." he muttered. "Class I'm Mr. Brown, I'm going to be your teacher for the rest of the year." He stand up and started walking around the class. "Why don't we do a little of free style reading? Let's see..." He said grabbing a paper from his desk. "Shane Gray....and....Mitchie Torres. How about you read us something? Romeo and Juliet perhaps? Act 2, Scene 2"

Mitchie looked around and she saw that the guy who had been there before was, in fact, the infamous Shane Gray. So that was why he looked familiar, he was Nate's freaky brother. She had heard a lot about Shane Gray, but she had never seen him. He huffed and stood up, grabbing one of the books that were laying on his desk. Mitchie stood up quickly and grabbed Romeo and Juliet from her bag.

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? it is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" He exclaimed in a perfectly acceptable acting tone. Mitchie cleared her throat and tried her best to sound like a player.

"Ay me!" She said. Well that wasn't exactly a long line. Shane sighed loudly again and continued.

"O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art, as glorious to this night, being o'er my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven." He continued. Her voice sent shivers down her spine.

" O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet." Mitchie breathed, ready to go on when Mr. Brown interrupted her.

"Excellent."

He said and she slowly noticed how everyone in the class was staring at her, most probably wondering who the heck she was. She sat down and face palmed herself, mission: remain invisible failed? Check.

As soon as the bell rang Shane was the first one to leave the room, he practically ran out knocking Tess Tyler down on the way, he didn't even turn around to apologize or help her up.

"Jackass."

Mitchie heard her mutter as she passed Tess by. She didn't think Shane was a jackass. He was...probably misunderstood. He seemed interesting. But of course she would never knew if he really was because he seemed to hate everyone and she never talked to anyone that wasn't Alex or a teacher. She walked quickly towards the cafeteria and when she entered she spotted Alex sitting at her usual table, Nate besides her. Mitchie giggled. Her eyes wandered a bit more and then she saw Shane Gray walking through the crowd towards the other exit. She didn't know why but her feet started moving towards him, when she was about to reach the door through which he had exited she stopped herself and turned to the corner Alex was sitting at. She sat down and stared at her.

"Oh Thank God! This idiot was harrassing me and so was his retarded fan club over there." She said pointing at a group of girls who were looking murderously at her. "Okay Nate go away no."

"No way Lexie. I've decided we are having lunch together from now up to forever." He said as he put his arm around her waist. Alex pulled away and rolled her eyes.

"WE are doing nothing because WE don't exist. Now go! Mitchie and I want to talk"

"Oh but Mitchie knows she can trust me." This time Mitchie rolled her eyes and Nate laughed, kissed Alex's cheek and got up and left.

"God that guy is a stalker. And I can't report it because he is cute." Alex blurted. " I mean everyone thinks he is cute..." Mitchie grinned. "Oh shut up! What's up with you?"

"Shane Gray is in my class." Mitchie simply said. Alex face transformed after a second.

"No, No. Michelle Marie Torres don't even think about thinking about it! I know he is a lost soul and that you have a weakness for lost souls but no! That boy is trouble!" She concluded

"God Alex you sound like my mother and my middle name is not Marie." Mitchie answered and stuck her tounge out.

"Whatever Mitchie, he is a senior, he is reckless and he is into weird not the good kind stuff. So just back off." Alex said as she grabbed her bag and collected her stuff. "Did you end up signing for being a tutor?"

"Yes! Advanced calculus. You?"

"Nice! You want 'em Seniors." Alex winked and Mitchie rolled her eyes. "Plain math. Golden Boy over there signed up for a tutor and guessed who he got!" Alex huffed and got up. "We have free periods right now so I'm going to start with him."

"You are going to make his life hell, aren't you?"

Alex smiled in an angelic way and nodded. "I'm going to make him wish he would have never talked to me." And then walked away, leaving an amused Mitchie behind.

---

Mitchie was walking down the empty hallway towards the library, humming and minding her own business when she bumped into someone. She fell to the floor and so did all her books, when she looked up she found intense hazel eyes staring back at her. Her breath got caught in her throat. Shane Gray.

She looked down and started picking up her books, while he just stood there. Maybe he really was a jackass like the Tyler girl had said. Her vision got even more blurry when he harshly muttered 'You should watch where you are going kid.' and she just got up and started almost running towards the library.

When she was out of sight, he leaned down and picked up one thing she had left behind. It was a yellow notebook and it said 'DO NOT READ' in big black letters on the cover. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Well curiosity killed the cat.


	3. Breathe

_A/N: _Hey! Thanks for all the reviews and the story alerts, I'm so happy you like the story because I wasn't sure whether to post it or not. Anyway I'm sorry if this chapter is all over the place, the thing is I'm three days away from seeing Demi and the Jonas Brothers live in concert. I know right? I'm going to die right there! So excited. Anyway hope you like the chapter, and please don't forget to review!

**Symptoms Of You**

_Everything is alright if I just breathe._

"And then he said he wouldn't! Can you believe that guy? He is a stupid..."

Mitchie nodded as she heard Alex ramble on and on about how Nate had gotten into her room the night before. She was fuming as always and about to bite anyone who got near her. But Mitchie didn't have time for that, sadly, she usually loved listening to Alex's woe but right now she was extremely preoccupied by the fact that her more precious possession was missing. Her song book. She had lost it on Monday and it was Wendsay now and she still couldn't find it. She had looked everywhere. Everywhere. Alex had told her to let it go but she just couldn't.

It was all her work.

Her passion. All those night of staying awake 'til four a.m to finish one song. It was the only thing she was good at and she had just lost it. Not only that but the fact that her songs, her most secret thoughts were in the hands of someone she didn't know. Even worst, someone from their school. Mitchie bit her lip and tried not to show her worry but she couldn't hide anything from Alex.

"Mitch! Russo to Mitchie-o are you listening to me?" Alex snapped her fingers in front of her face and a second later Mitchie shook her head and smiled.

"Yes, sorry about that I spaced out..." Alex sighed and looked around her room.

"Look we've been over every step you took on Monday. I told you that someone in our school's gotta have it but it doesn't even have a name so if by miracle there's a kind soul in that hell hole, he or she can't return it. If it's a he/she-devil they will never knew you wrote them anyway."

"Yeah." Mitchie bit her lip again and tried not to let her mind wander to the 'what if they steal my songs question' "So after he tried to corner you, what did he do?" She asked trying to seem enthusiastic.

"Oh as I was saying..."

---

Shane Gray was sitting in his room flipping through the yellow notebook of the weird, but extremely talented he'd come to find out, girl he had bumped into two days before. He was impressed actually, by how talented she really was, her music, and the songs, such harmony, such grace. It was unbelievable. He was in awe, in fact he could admit that he was utterly in love with her lyrics. It was the kind of music he really did love. He continued to re-read the songs when suddenly someone stormed into his room.

Nate.

Shane sighed. He loved his brother. He really did. But ever since he had turned into a jock, they had stopped getting along. Shane was lanky and weird and musical and a loner. He didn't talk to a lot of people, most of the town population took his humor as offensive, he had no friends or even classmates for that matter, the only person he talked to besides his mom was Jason and he was just and utter freak to everyone else. Nate thought he belonged in a mental institution and he had stated that, several times. So imagine his surprised when said self-proclaimed shrink stormed into his room.

"Do you live in a tent?" was the first thing Shane said. It pissed the hell off of him when people didn't knock.

"I don't have time for this. I need your help." Nate said as he sat down in Shane's bed and examined his brother room. He hadn't been in there for a while. He was surprised to see how clean it was since their mother never went in there. Actually no one did. Nate turned to look at Shane who was know looking at him murderously.

"GET OUT" Shane simply said and then stared down the notebook again. Nate wasn't leaving. "Nate what part of get out is so difficult for you to understand? Out!"

Nate got up and started walking towards the door but before leaving he stopped and turned to Shane "Dad's right, you're a freak." he huffed and then slammed the door behind him.

Shane rolled his eyes and leaned back onto his pillow. It had been a while since he had stopped caring about what his father thought about him. He wasn't about to start now. What was really intriguing to him was this girl. He needed to give her notebook back. But he couldn't apply his rule of no-talking on her. She was just too damn interesting. He wanted to talk to her. He actually did. He closed his eyes and after a few minutes he heard a knock at the door.

"Shaney." He smiled, his mother. "We are going to dinner at the Russo's. Me and Jase would love it if you came and I'm sure so would Mr. and Mrs. Russo." Shane smirked. Her mom was so bad at lying. Sure the Russos would love to get more information to gossip on the black sheep of the Gray family. But he hadn't been out in a while and he actually liked the Russo's daughter. The way she kept on publicly humiliating his brother was priceless.

"Sure Mom. I'll go." He jumped out of bed and grabbed a jacket and when he opened the door he heard Nate downstairs saying something about how Shane couldn't come.

Oh this night was going to be fun.

---

"Shane! Well it's definitely a surprise to see you!" Mitchie's blood froze as she heard Mrs. Russo exclamation. She stopped dead on her tracks and she was considering on turning round and running up the stairs but before she could Jason interrupted her.

"Hey Alex! Alex's friend!" Alex laughed and hugged him and then turned around pointing at her.

"That's Mitchie. She's my BFF Jase. Mitchie this is Jason. You two are bound to get along pretty nicely. Talk about music or something..." before Alex could finish that sentence a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her waist and she was twirling in the air. "NATE PUT ME DOWN. RIGHT NOW. STOP IT, I MEAN IT NATE!"

Jason laughed and Mitchie tried to cover her giggles, that wasn't necessary for a long while because they got caught in her throat when Shane walked by them. She tried not to notice how beautiful he looked or how strong was the pull to turn around and follow him. She had never been attracted to someone that way. She bit her lip and turned around to get into the kitchen and help with dinner but before she could she bumped into someone, and ended up on the floor. When she looked up she encountered those hazel eyes again. Except this time he extended his hand and the corners of his lips turned up slightly.

"We need to stop meeting like this." He smiled and when she took his hand she felt an electricity running down her spine. It made her jump up but she didn't let go of his hand. He shook it slightly and smirked even more. Mitchie immediately blushed and and let go of his hand. His skin was rough, she wondered why. He nodded slightly and then he turned around and whispered something on Jason's ear.

"Dinner is ready!" Alex's mom yelled from the kitchen.

---

"So Shane how have you been all this time? We haven't see you around here."

Mitchie looked down to her plate. Alex's mom had been putting Shane through the Spanish Inquisition ever since he had sat down in the table. He had limited his answers to 'yes' 'no' and 'It was okay'. As much as she felt his uncomfortableness radiating she was eager to hear him talk more. She wanted to know more about him.

"I've been locked up in the store."

Mitchie smiled. That was one thing she knew about. Jason owned an old record store that was somewhere hidden downtown. Shane worked there and practically lived there most of the time. There was a studio upstairs, that Jason also owned and Alex's had told Mitchie that whenever she went to the store, Shane always put the 'closed' sign on and went upstairs to record music. No one ever got to hear it though.

The conversation went on for a couple of minutes more, everyone else oblivous to it. When Shane finally just shrugged, Ms Russo turned around to talk to someone else. Mitchie dared to look up and stare him through her lashes. He looked indifferent. She wanted to reach out. She wanted to touch his hand and just tell him that it was okay to be upset over people being nosy. She smiled as she imagined touching his hand again.

"Mitchie let's go upstairs." Alex nudged her and grabbed her arm dragging her upstairs towards her room. "Mitchie you need to stop looking at Shane like that." Alex said as soon as she closed her room door. "He is two minutes away from noticing you like him."

"I don't like him." Mitchie said as she bit her lip and tried to hold back her smile. "I just think he is interesting...that's all."

"That's what they all say Mitch." Alex was about to go on with her motherly rant when her mother called her. "Ugh we have to go downstairs, they are leaving."

---

"Don't look so sad Lexie. I'm staying." Nate said as soon as Alex finished running down the stairs.

"Oh how cute! You and Justin are painting each others nails and talking about how hot Zac Efron is!" Alex giggled and then proceed to hug Jason goodbye. "Bye Jase! I'll go and drop by tomorrow after school." Jason nodded and smile. Shane just turned and gave Mitchie a quick glance, he made a motion to walk away but then he turned around and stared intensely at her.

"I'll be seeing you."


	4. Reaching

_A/N: _Thank you! _Thank you! _**Thank you! **Your reviews/alerts are like Christmas morning and cookies!

**Symptoms Of You**

_Girl, you are like summer rain, soft and warm and delicate and I'm a foolish boy, trying to catch every drop of you on my tongue but there's just too many and I can't get enough. _

Shane Gray was infatuated.

He had decided that was the term that he was going to use for the feeling that Michelle Torres generated on him. He wasn't used to this kind of sentiments really, so how could a fifteen year old come along and turn him into a sappy soap-ish teenager? He couldn't stop thinking about her music. He was in love with her music. And that scared him. Because he had reached the conclusion that if he got to know the girl, he would fall in love with her too. After all her lyrics were only a reflection of what was inside.

He buffed and scratched his head, trying to solve his current predicament, meanwhile he looked around the tutoring center. He couldn't believe his calculus teacher had been evil enough to make him turn to tutoring. He just hoped he didn't get some stupid girl who just wanted to get a boyfriend. He bit his lip as he heard the door being pushed lightly from the outside and looked up. What, or in this case who, he saw walked through the door stunned him.

"I'm so sorry I'm late but my history teacher wouldn't let me go and..." he chuckled. She hadn't realized who he was yet or she would've shut up and sit down straight by now. "I told him I needed to...never mind. Anyway..." She looked up smiling but as soon as her eyes met his every trace of happiness was erased from her face. "Um..oh hi."

He chuckled again and extended his hand. "Shane Gray, nice to meet you."

She grabbed his hand and shook it lightly. "Mitchie Torres but I guess you already knew that..."

"I did. I just want to remember the first time we met without crashing into each other." She giggled and he smiled. She should always laugh. "So I guess you're my tutor then. Aren't you a bit young to be tutoring in advanced calculus?"

"Aren't you a little old to be so judgmental?" She said before she actually thought about what was coming out of her mouth.

"Fair enough." He smiled and Mitchie noticed how his eyes looked when he did that. She bit her lip and tried not to blush. "So what are you teaching me super smart fifteen year old?"

Mitchie rolled her eyes smiled. This was going to be a fun year.

---

"Baby it's fate!" Alex exclaimed as they walked down the street towards the record store. "I mean I know I'm opposed to the Smitchie ever happening but if you keep bumping into him, like literally, you gotta do what you gotta do."

"And that is..." Alex shrugged and Mitchie laughed. "Well what about Nate? You keep bumping into him, isn't that fate, 'baby'?" Alex rolled her eyes and Mitchie laughed even harder.

"No. It's not fate because I'm not bumping into him he puts himself on my way." Alex stopped in front of an old building. A sign of 'Open' was hanging from the crystal door that she pushed open. The bell ringed and Mitchie smiled. The smell of old records reminded her of childhood, and home. "JASE! I'M HERE! AND SO IT'S MITCHIE!"

Alex took a few steps inside followed by Mitchie closely. For a few seconds , because then she turned around and started going through the Cds. Alex looked around and then turned to Mitchie. "I'm gonna go look upstairs in the studio. Wait here. And if someone comes kick them out." Mitchie nodded absentmindedly and carried on looking at the Cds.

A few minutes passed until she was interrupted by Alex's voice calling her up. She dropped the Cd she had been checking out and walked up the stairs hesitantly. When she got all the way up she found a long hallway that had at least five doors. She wasn't sure inside which room Alex was but when she heard heavy footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway she stepped into one of them without thinking about it. She closed the door with a loud thud behind her, of course she didn't notice this. Her whole attention was concentrated in the amazing piano that was located in the middle of the room. She dropped her bag and walked slowly towards it, sitting even more slowly on the bench. It was such an old piano, she felt respect for it. She slowly placed her fingers on the keys and took a deep breath. She missed music. She had hardly any time alone to play lately.

Her fingers started moving slowly, without her mind even registering the movement. It was always like that when she played. And without her planning on it, the words started flowing. In Spanish. Her mother loved it when she sang in her native language.

"Desde muy niña siempre actue con timidez, con el miedo de decir todo de una vez. Tengo un sueño en mi que brillando esta, lo dejare salir por fin, tu sabras." She felt powerful when she was singing, unstopabble. She wasn't invisible Mitchie. She was just whoever she wanted to be. "Lo que soy, es real. Deja que la luz brille en mi, ahore si se quien soy, no hay manera de ocultar...lo que siempre he querido ser...Lo que soy." She concluded as she closed the lid and opened her eyes. What she didn't expect was to found two pairs of eyes staring at her from the other side of the room.

"HOLY CRAP!" Mitchie said as she fell out of the bench.

"Mitchie, are you okay? We are so sorry but that was amazing, oh my god!" Jason exclaimed as he approached her to help. "Sorry I didn't mean...I mean we didn't...Are you okay?"

Mitchie nodded and took his hand with an apologetic smile. The other pair of eyes Mitchie had seen belonged to none other than Shane Gray. He walked into the room and leaned against the piano. His eyes were glued to Mitchie.

"That's my piano." He simply stated.

"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't.." Mitchie began to apologize but Shane stopped her by shaking his head.

"That was nice."

"Nice?" Jason interrupted. "That was amazing! Besides I love spanish music! So exotic. Dude! That was awesome!" He high fived Mitchie and hugged her. A few seconds later Alex walked into the room.

"Hey Mitchie I was looking for you." Alex smiled at the scene. "Shane-o, Jase." Jason let go of Mitchie and turned to hug Alex. "Woah boy! I guess you heard Mitchie sing?"

"Accidentally." Mitchie clarified.

"Anyway let's go downstairs. The class of guitar it's about to start Lexi-o." Jason smiled and motioned the door. "Besides I'm sure Shane wants some privacy." Alex followed Jason and so did Mitchie. But Shane's voice stopped them.

"Mitchie." He spoke up a bit. When she turned she noticed he had already sat down in the bench and that his fingers were touching the keys lightly. "Stay." He looked at her for a second and then he turned to the piano again.

Alex pushed Mitchie into the room and closed the door behind her. Mitchie mentally cursed her friend. She was confused, why was Shane of all a sudden speaking to her outside of school? She walked towards the piano slowly, he was so focused on the keys that he almost jumped when she accidentally kicked the bench when approaching.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." She started her never ending circles of apologies, he smiled and stopped her.

"S'okay. Sit." He sharply ordered and then turned to the piano again. His hands were caressing the keys so softly. "So...you're pretty amazing with singing..." She blushed deeply but he continued before she could retort. "Too bad I couldn't understand a word you were saying..." She looked away. She knew where this was going. "Would you mind singing for me?"

"Actually..." How could she say no? When he was looking at her that way...she just couldn't. It was too much. "I'm..." She breathed in. "Why not?" He smiled, a big big smile that made her think she would agree to almost anything to see it again. She placed her hands over the keys and closed her eyes. _You're alone in your room, you're alone, you're alone, you're..._"I've always been the kind of girl, that hid my face...so afraid to tell the world what I've got to say...but I have this dream, bright inside of me, I've gotta let it show it's time...to let you know, to let you know..." He was hypnotized, by her voice, it was unbelievable. He was almost sure that he could cry right in that second. "This is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, gonna let the light, shine on me...now I've found who I am, there's no way to hold it in...no more hiding who I wanna be...this is me..."

She turned to look at him and then she couldn't look away. His eyes were burning deep into hers. A few minutes passed and he finally spoke up.

"Wow...that was..." He sucked air in and turned to her, that silly grin still plastered in his lips. "You are pretty damn amazing Torres."

"Thank you." Mitchie nodded and motioned to get up from the bench but Shane encircled her wrist and pulled her down.

"You know Nate and I were best friends." He looked down and licked his lips. "He used to call me Josephine, when I spend hours in the bathroom straightening my hair. We always told each other everything...we were really close when Jason was in college. When he came back...we changed. I started playing the guitar and Nate signed up for the team. After one month he was the golden boy and I had turned into the black sheep of the family..." Mitchie didn't say a word, even when he made an extremely long pause. "We only talked....well more like yelled at each other about it once. He told me he hated me...It was...pretty shocking..even when he had turned into my worst nightmare...I never stopped appreciating him, I used to go to his games and stayed behind the bleachers...I was so damn proud of him..."

A few minutes went by.

"You're a good listener Mitchie. I had never told a soul about that...So I'm hoping you're a good secret keeper too." Mitchie's mute state didn't change. "You know this would really be the time to say something."

"I don't really know what to say....I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through that on your own. I mean loosing your best friend must be devastating. I can't imagine life without Alex." Mitchie concluded as she placed a hand over Shane's. He laughed and squeezed her hand and then proceeded to shake it off.

"S'okay. I can accept what I can't change." He got up and walked towards the door but not before turning around and extending his hand to Mitchie.

But she just couldn't hold it in any longer. She took his hands and pulled him into a hug. She knew, she knew, she could see it in his eyes, as cheesy at that sounded. He was trying to play it like everything was okay, that he was okay on his own but he wasn't. And she understood that, she knew how he felt. Shane hugged her back, a bit confused, a bit thankful. And in that exact moment Mitchie made a promise to herself.

She would never ever hurt Shane Gray.


	5. Please Be Mine

_A/N: _This has been the best week of my life and you guys only made it better. Seriously I love the reviews and the story alerts & I appreciate everything SO much, thank you!

**Symptoms Of You**

_They come and go but they don't know that you are my beautiful. _

What the hell was she thinking?

Michelle Torres had made some bad decisions in her life. Like that time when she had let Alex talked her into climbing up that gigantic tree and she fell down and ended up in the hospital with a broken ankle. Or that time when she had actually believed that the most popular guy at middle school had asked her out only to stand her up and make fun of her in front of everyone. She remember he had ended up with a broken nose and two black eyes after Alex was through with him. But this was nothing like that, if that was bad, this was practically a catastrophic. She knew why she had said yes, he had looked at her with those stupid puppy eyes and that stupid stupid grin and she just couldn't say no.

He knew this. And that wasn't good.

She let her mind wonder back a few hours ago. To the tutoring center to be more specific.

_"Miiiiiitchieeeee..." _

_"Stop it Shane, you have to finish that whole page. Today. You're not making any progress..." He rolled his eyes and reached out to grab her hands, ever since that time they hugged, he had become an addict to physical contact when they were alone. "What now?"_

_"I will finish with one condition.." He trailed off, his fingers running up and down her arms so slowly, it was giving her chills. She swallowed and nodded. "You go out with me." Her eyes were as wide as ever now._

_"What? Are you insane? No no no no no no...no no NO no no." She concluded "No."_

_"Twelve no's? Really?" He asked as he pulled away from her hands. "Sorry do I smell or something?"_

_"No is not that...it's just..." Was she seriously about to tell this guy, Shane Gray this? Well he had told her his secret....one of them at least. Maybe she should. He had been perfectly honest with her. "I don't have a very good experience with dating. I was....well I was only asked out like once, and the guy stood me up and made fun of me in front of the whole school. It was terrible."_

_His jaw clenched and his hands fisted. When he looked up something in his eyes had fisted. _

_"So now you have an irrational fear that I'm going to be a complete jackass?" He muttered as he shifted his eyes to the wall besides him. "I'm not going to flip because I mean I understand your irrational fear, as crazy as it sounds..." his eyes were on me again, his fingers intertwined with mine. "But never, ever again think that I would ever think about doing something like that to anyone, especially you Mitchie."_

_I felt tears abruptly stinging my eyes. I didn't want to cry, but the way he was looking at me made me tremble. He looked at me with such adoration. Almost, I thought, as if he thought I was beautiful. I brushed it off. Beautiful were words that were applied to Tess Tyler, or Alex. Not me. I was just Plain Jane Mitchie. _

_"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you..." He trailed off and gripped my hands tighter "Say yes. It's not even a date. It's just going out. Once. If you don't like it you don't ever have to talk to me again."_

_I wasn't sure if there were any words left inside of me. I pressed my lips together and nodded. He smiled and got up and kissed me on the cheek. _

_"I'll pick you up at eight." His words echoed as he left the room. _

_A tear fell down slowly as she started getting her stuff to leave. This time it was of happiness. Shane Gray, the most intriguingly beautiful person she knew, thought she was really something._

_She smiled. Because maybe, just maybe, she was._

Mitchie sighed and bit her lip once more. Even if he hadn't say it was a date, she was going out with Shane Gray. And she couldn't tell a soul. Alex would freak...and that was about it. Who was she going to tell, Jason? No. If she did, he would probably tell Shane. And she would look stupid and child-ish. She was thankful her mom trusted her whole-heartedly because she didn't want to have a sex talk with her again. And she definitely didn't want to pressure Shane into meeting her mother in the first date. I mean...Shane was a guy that wasn't tied to anyone or anything but music. If she pushed him into meeting her family he would walk away. And she didn't want him to walk away. He was already about to notice how boring she really was, she didn't need to give him a reason to ignore her.

So she just put on a pair of old blue jeans, a black shirt and some boots and at eight o'clock someone knocked on the door. Mitchie practically ran down the stairs and opened the door in a rush. What she saw on the other side took her breath away. Shane was standing there, old levis, leather jacket and guitar on his back, holding a flower, a sunflower to be more specific and smiling with that wicked grin of his.

"For my lady." He said as he kissed my hand and handed me the flower. "Now where's your mom so she can give me the seal of approval?"

"Um...you don't have to do all that ... I mean my mom doesn't mind..." Mitchie bit her lip and looked away and Shane chuckled.

"I want to Mitch." He pushed the door open a bit. "Can I come in?"

"Um, yeah sure..." Mitchie turned around and walked towards the kitchen, Shane following behind her. "Mom?"

A woman that was probably in her middle thirties, brown hair, hazel eyes, turned around, spots of flour all over her face, smiling, as wide as she could. Shane noticed that her smile was a lot like Mitchie's, he also noticed that she was pretty. Must have been beautiful at young age, just like her daughter.

"Yes honey? Who's your friend?" She asked as she cleaned her hands

"Mom this is Shane...Gray, Shane this is my mom, Connie Torres." Mitchie swallowed as she watched Shane shook ed her mother's hand and smile.

"A pleasure Ms Torres." He grinned "I'm taking your daughter out if you don't mind of course."

"Oh of course! Wow Mitchie you hold onto this one." She winked and turned around "You kids have fun, don't be late Mitchie!"

Mitchie stormed out of the kitchen looking red as a tomato and Shane laughing behind her.

---

"Big Mac. Why would anyone want to eat those rice things? Disgusting."

Shane laughed again and Mitchie rolled her eyes. He was so amused by her. She never did what he expected her to do, never said what he was waiting for. She was so intriguing but so simple at the same time. He didn't understand how he was so lucky, how no other guy had ever noticed how perfect Mitchie was before. But he was thankful, the way she made him feel...it was indescribable. He felt like writing sappy poems all the time and being with her, sending her texts and calling her just because. She made him feel like a child. Happy.

She made him happy.

He was astounded by this new decipherment. He remembered the last time he was truly really happy. The last time he felt the way he did when he was with Mitchie. It was summer and he was at the beach playing ball with Nate and his dad as Jason played the guitar and his mom made sandwiches and everything was just perfect. But with Mitchie it was different. She made him feel like all of his problem weren't so important, in fact she kind of made him think everything was going to be alright when she smiled. Boy that smile was beautiful.

"Do you want to hear a song?" He asked all of a sudden.

Was he really going to sing her one of the songs he had written for....a girl that might possibly most probably be her? He could not to tell her that. After all it was fair, he told her a secret, she told him one. She sang for him and now he was going to sign for her.

"Yes!" Her whole face lightened up and Shane chuckled as she nodded frantically. "I mean yes! I'd love to."

"Let's go to the store, it's a few blocks from here." He smiled and all of a sudden took her hand in his. Mitchie blushed and looked down as she bit her lip.

She was surprised about how her ideal date had turned out.

She had always imagined something traditional but walking around the park playing twenty questions with Shane had been perfect, in every sense of the word. She almost didn't notice the hours going by. And now that she could feel his big hand holding her tiny one, she felt like her heart was skipping beats. When they got to the store he opened the door for her and took her upstairs to the studio. As soon as they were inside in one of the recording rooms he sat down in a bench and grabbed his guitar.

"It's just something I've been playing around with lately...Don't laugh." He smirked and she nodded.

"...I try to come closer with you, but they all say we won't make it through...but I'll be there forever, you will see that is better, our hopes and our dreams will come true..I will not disappoint you, i'll be right there for you, 'til the end, the end of time...please be mine..."

There was a long silence when he put the guitar down and just stared at her. She was in an awe, but he didn't see this.

"I know it's not..."

"Shut up." She said as she got up and wrapped her arms tightly around him. "That was amazing, if you wrote that for someone, that must be a very lucky girl." She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.

"She is an amazing girl." He agreed. "Mitchie...." But he stopped himself. _Too early, she's going to freak if you tell her now. Don't. _"I think you might my best friend." She smiled, she felt like her heart was being split open and put together again by those words.

"You too."


	6. Temporary Insanity

_A/N: _Hey! Thanks for all the reviews and the story alerts you guys! I'm so happy to know that some people actually enjoy reading what I have to write. Reviews are like cotton candy trees ;)

**Symptoms Of You**

_If this is crazy, there is nothing I'd rather be._

Alex was in a daze.

She didn't know how it happened but somehow she had ended up agreeing to go out in one date with Nate Gray. Yes, she knew it was against everything she ever said or believed on, but the guy and his stalking was really getting to her. So she said yes. She knew he had probably told all of his team five seconds after and all but she was just hoping that if he could have her for an hour he would stop pursing her every second of the day. So she had gone to watch him practice, sat down in the bleachers and stared at him and a bunch of guys act like animals. Still she couldn't get over the way he smiled when he saw her there. His whole face was beaming and it made her smile. After a shower and changing he was ready to go and have an ice cream with her.

She had no idea how they had gone from playing around with ice cream to a make out session on the couch that was in his brother studio. She felt his fingers dancing around her sides, and she started giggling against his lips. He smiled and murmured something to then proceed to flip her over so than he was on top. She ran her hands up and down his bare arms giggled again and then almost slapped herself. Why did she feel so girly and mushy of all a sudden? This date was supposed to satisfy his irrational need to get her. Now she was letting him use her and then what? She was about to pull away when the studio door was suddenly opened. Who she saw standing there made her want to bang her head against a wall. There in all his smirking glory was...

Shane Gray.

---

"Man what are you even doing here?" Nate questioned as he looked around for his jacket.

"None of your business." Shane answered. "Stay here Nate. I'm taking Alex home."

"No way in hell Shane, I've got my car, I'll drive her." Nate argued immediately. Alex was just sitting there, blushing, about to die of embarassament. She had no idea what had been that that happened between her and Nate. Or what was going to happen.

"You drive her and I'm telling Justin I caught you half naked going at it. If you drive her you might end up convincing her to finish what you started here on the backseat of your car." Alex was ready to retort but Shane gave her a look that said 'shut up' "Like I said, wait here. Mom and Dad can blame it on me if we get home late together."

Nate buffed but it was interrupted when Alex got up and kissed him on the lips. Shane rolled his eyes and walked out of the studio with her, leaving a bewirlided Nate behind.

---

The ride home was hell for Alex.

Not only because she was kind of dying of embarrassment, but because she was also kind of scared of Shane. And he wasn't talking, at all. And he was also driving a little too slow. Finally Alex decided to spoke up.

"Are you planning on getting me home sometime this century?" She asked as she buffed and looked down, but when she did she saw something that caught her eye. She leaned down and picked up the yellow notebook from the car floor. "Oh My God." she mouthed. Shane didn't look at first but then he stopped and turned. He tried to grab it but she moved it away. "You have Mitchie's songs. She's going to be so happy..."

"I'm not giving it back yet." He stated as he tried to grab it once again.

"You knew it was hers." Alex said as she handed it to him. "Why are you..." Shane starred at her as she covered her mouth with her hand and stared at him wide eyed. "YOU....Mitchie...you...YOU!" She said as she frantically pointed at him and started laughing. "You like Mitchie!"

Shane pressed his lips together and looked away. Damn intution. He started driving but he could feel Alex's eyes fixated on him. He stopped abruptly in front of her house and waited.

"Go home. Stay away from Nate if you are smart enough." He simply said.

"So...you like my best friend!" Alex started laughing uncontrollably "Wow Shane...you you are really..." Alex covered her mouth with her hand and leaned foward. "Um I mean I never..."

"Is it really that ridiculous for you to imagine me and Mitchie? Really? I know I'm not good enough for her, not nearly but still." This made Alex stop laughing. She just licked her lips and looked down. "Just go okay. And don't..."

"I wasn't laughing at you...I was just surprised...but in a good way. I mean..." She buffed and leaned down to pick up her bag. "I won't tell her. And yes you can take this as a big deal because I tell her everything..." Alex pressed her lips tightly together once more and then she got out of the car. Before walking towards her house she leaned down and spoke to him once more. "Just promise me you won't let me end up as just a picture in your brother's book."

Shane laughed as he shook his head and then turned to her again. "Promise."

"Pinky Promise?" He nodded and she smiled at him. "Okay then...I guess we're good Shane Gray."

Shane smiled as he watched her made her way into her house.

Yes they were going to be even better.

---

"Shane you were irresponsible, and you will be grounded."

His father said. Shane had been listening to him rant about how stupid he had been when he didn't do everything in his power to get Nate home early because he had practice in the morning and therefore Shane should be his personal servant every second of the day. He was about to get up and walk away from his irrational rant when he was surprised by his little brother. He had walked into the living room and was about to actually...stand up to his dad?

"Actually dad, it was my fault. I was on a date and..."

"Don't try to cover up for him Nate I..."

"DAD CAN YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Shane suddenly snapped as he jumped up from the couch. "Just stop okay! Listen to your son once in a while, God knows is the only one you've got left." He said as he turned around to exit the room.

"Shane! Get Back here!"

But he didn't. He just went to her room and slammed the door. He had had enough.

And apparently so did Nate.

---

Mitchie bit her lip as she stared at her sidekick for the seventh hundred time that night. She could almost hear Alex telling her to stop being such a girl. She had asked Shane to let her know when he got home safe and it had been three hours since he had dropped her off, still no signs were given. Two hours ago she had been woken by Alex, tapping at her window impatiently, after she had let her in she had spilled everything about how her date with Nate had went. Pretty well, it seemed. But of course Mitchie had been worrying about that too. What if Nate hurt her? What if he decided he didn't want her anymore now he had her? She turned to stare at her best friend who was in peaceful slumber and sighed. Why were the Gray boys being such trouble?

_Beep._

She jumped from her bed at the sound. Could it be...? She ran towards her desk were her sidekick was and picked it up. It was! She contained the need to scream and do a little victory dance just because Alex was asleep and if she woke up Mitchie would have to give a very long explanation. She bit her lip until she almost drew blood and then finally opened the message.

_Hello beautiful, I'm sorry I didn't check in earlier. Nate + Parental Unit drama. Hope I didn't wake you. I loved spending time with you  
_

Mitchie blushed. He was just way too good to be true, and she was just thankful that no other girl seemed to notice this. She couldn't get over how incredibly sweet he was underneath, yes it sounded cheesy but he was such a sweetheart. She sat down on the bed besides Alex and started replying.

_Hey! You didn't, don't worry. Alex dropped by, she wanted to spill the beans about her date with your brother, but I guess I shouldn't be telling you this. Haha. I hope things are okay?  
_

And right after she clicked 'Send' she realized that was lame. It was lame, lame, it was the lamest text she had ever written. She dropped the sidekick and covered her face with both hands but a second later she heard another 'Beep'.

_Haha don't worry Nate already gave me WAY TMI on the way home. It is, it was just my Dad...it's a very long story. Anyway are you dropping by the store tomorrow?_

She smiled and quickly replied.

_I'm glad you and Nate are talking, even if it's about him shoving his tongue down my best friend's throat. I guess so. What's in it for me?_

She could almost hear laughing at her childness when he replied.

_That's gross. Mental image leaving me scarred for life. haha you get to hear me sing, isn't that amazing? See you tomorrow pretty. I can hardly wait._

Mitchie could feel her heartbeat going out of control, and the huge smile that she couldn't get off her face. She bit her lip again and then she heard the 'Beep' again.

_Sweet dreams Mitchie. Miss you already.  
_

She smiled even more if possible and quickly replied.

_See you tomorrow Shane-o. Sweet dreams. _

She clicked 'Send' before she almost typed 'Love you'.

---

Shane smiled as he got the last reply from Mitchie. That girl was doing things to him and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He had already accepted the fact that she made him the happiest he had been in a long time, she was sweet, down to earth, considerate, sensitive...and he could go on all day long. He didn't care if he was being blatantly obvious about his feelings for her. He knew he was falling for this girl and she might as well get the hint, if she did it would be much easier to tell her, when he was already helpless. Because that was exactly what he was doing, falling, without making any effort, without being able to stop it.

Falling in love with Michelle Torres.


	7. Fly With Me

_A/N: _Thank you! Thank you, you have no ideas how happy reviews make me! You guys rock!

**Symptoms Of You**

_We're chasing stars to lose our shadow, Peter Pan and Wendy turned out fine, so won't you fly with me?_

She knew something had changed.

When she woke up, Alex snoring loudly by her side, her mom shouting for her to get downstairs to have some breakfast, her sidekick beeping, reminding her she had to meet Shane that day, she just knew something had shifted the night before during her date with Shane. She had a crush on him before that date, she had this unrealistic vision of him as a dark lost soul, musician that was a loner by choice, and she was crushing on that. The night before, walking around town, talking to him, he had just..showed him a bit of the real Shane. And it wasn't disappointing, at all. It was amazing.

He was a funny, cute, quirky guy, who was a loner because his best friend, his brother, had stomped all over his heart, even if he'd never put it that way, and that was possibly one of the most honest, talented, pure people Mitchie had ever met. She was happily surprised, and when he had called her, his best friend, she had felt her heart flutter. But at the same time it had kind of shatter a bit. And that was what had changed. She was no longer crushing in the image she had inside her head of Shane Gray. She was crushing, dare she say falling for?, the real Shane.

That was that.

"Mitchie tell your mom to stop screaming, I'm sure China already heard her!" Alex grunted and then closed her eyes again and started snoring.

Mitchie laughed and jumped out of bed, before Alex pushed her off of it, it took her good five minutes to get ready, see she wasn't really a girly-girl with clothes, and she wore absolutely no make up, and then she practically skipped down stairs where her mother was waiting for her. She skipped down the stairs as she hummed

_"Lo que soy es real soy exactamente la que debo ser......"_

When she entered the kitchen, she stopped dead on her tracks. She blinked several times to check she wasn't hallucinating. There in her kitchen table, Nate, Shane and Jason Gray were sitting, having breakfast, talking to her mother, laughing. She took a deep breath and took some steps towards the kitchen, when she coughed loudly, the four of them turned to look at her.

"Mitchie! You're finally up!" Her mother exclaimed as she hugged her. "I saw Alex in your room this morning, did she climb that tree again?" Mitchie nodded, she heard Nate snorting in the background and her Mom rolled her eyes. "I've told you a thousand times to not let her do that! That girl is reckless! I'm gonna go tell her to come and have some breakfast." Her mom exited the kitchen and Mitchie sat down and stared at the three happy faces that were staring back at her.

"I'm sorry, did I just enter a parallel universe where you know my mom? Even better, where we all live together?" the three boys laughed and Mitchie sighed. Yeah this was completely weird.

"Mitchie, Shane and I have known Connie forever, she used to look after us and Justin before Nate and you and Alex were born." Jason explained as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Nate?" Mitchie asked looking at the popular jock that looked like a scared freshman in that instant.

"He came because I accidentally let slip the fact that Alex was here. Sorry baby." Shane leaned and pressed a kiss to Mitchie's cheek, this made her turn red and Jason and Nate exploded in laughter. Shane rolled his eyes and extended his hand, entwining his fingers with Mitchie's. "Your mom didn't realize it was me last night, I used to have curly hair and glasses when I was little. It was..."

"Horrible." Nate completed.

"Aw I'm sure you looked cute..." Mitchie smiled and squeezed his hand, which made Shane smile. "Besides you couldn't have been worst than I was. I was the ugliest baby..."

Shane squeezed her hand even tighter and made her turn to look into his eyes. "You are beautiful."

"Stop it please I'm eating." Nate gagged and Jason slapped the back of his head.

Mitchie blushed, and Shane chuckled and it that exact second Mitchie noticed something. Shane was happy. She noticed the way he was talking to Nate. The way he was laughing with Jason. He loved his brothers so much. And she unconsciously started laughing along. A minute later Alex walked into the kitchen, messy hair, make up all over her face, wearing some sweatpants and uggs. And Nate just stared at her like he had seen the most beautiful woman in the world.

"God Mitchie your mom..." but as Mitchie she stopped dead on her tracks when she saw the three Grays sitting there with her friend, she was even more confused when she saw Mitchie and Shane holding hands. "Okay....it's too early for a sarcastic comment...so...what the hell?"

"Hey baby." Nate smiled and Alex rolled her eyes.

"Shut it asshole." Alex was going to change the subject but then she stopped herself. "By the way, last night? That was your wet dream, IT NEVER HAPPENED okay? That goes for Shane and Mitchie too."

"Never happened? I wouldn't be so sure Alex, I'm pretty sure my brother's tongue down your throat did happen." Shane laughed and Alex sent him a death glare.

"So Alex where are we going today?" Alex sighed and decided not to argue, for once.

"I guess you can drive me home Golden Boy. And I can let you buy me some ice cream."

"Ice-cream?" Nate wiggled his eyebrows and Alex rolled her eyes.

"Yes genius." Jason laughed and Alex rolled her eyes. "Ice cream is not an euphemism for making out, fyi."

"Sure it isn't." Jason winked and then turned to Mitchie and Shane. "You two! C'mon let's go to the store, it's late." The two almost love birds seemed to be on a trance.

"Let them be Jason, don't forget they need to have their mandatory morning hand holding session, while their stare into each others sparkling hazel eyes and be disgustingly cute while doing so."

---

_"Everyone's perfect in unusual ways..."_

Mitchie sang as she went through the cds in the back of Jason's store. She had found a box that said 'Shane's Jam' and she was going through it, until she was of course, interrupted by Shane.

"Well, well Mrs. Torres. I think it's not needed to say I loved your singing..." he said as he took his jacket off and sat down next to her. "Your voice is a combination of Fergie and Jesus."

"Quoting Step Brothers? Nice." Mitchie nodded and Shane laughed. "It's Alex's favourite movie, I mean second...the first one it's Pear Harbour, of course."

"And yours?" he said as he grabbed one of his old cd's.

"A walk to remember." She said and she felt a bit of blush creeping up her cheeks. She wasn't an original like Alex, she was such a girly-girl ugh.

"You're deep Mitchie. Way too deep." He sighed and bit his lip. "Was that an original that you were singing?"

"Yeah...I mean it's just a little thing I wrote..I had written, I kind of...lost my song book." She gave him a half grin and continued on going through the cds.

"Hey Mitchie...do you want to watch a movie? I think Jase's girlfriend might have forgotten her dvds here." Mitchie nodded and tried to hold back the enormous smile that was threatening to explode. "I'll be right back."

Mitchie put the box down and leaned back on the couch, it was comfortable enough, she noticed the room had posters of rock bands all over the walls. She smiled as she watched Shane walk back into the room holding a box in his hands. He put a random dvd in the player and sat down besides her, wrapping his arm around her waist and making her lean against his chest. As soon as the movie started Mitchie's grin broke into an enormous smile, he had picked 'A walk to remember'. She snuggled into his chest and as she tried to focus on the movie she was constantly distracted by the lulling sound of the beating of his heart. A few minutes later she fell asleep peacefully into his arms.

A few seconds later so did he.

And that was how Jason found them, wrapped in each others arms, asleep.

He wondered how long it would take them to realize how in love they were.

Little did he know.


	8. 1, 2, 3, 4

_A/N: _Sorry Sorry this took me so long! I'm going through some kind of writers block. I'll try to have the next one up soon! Thank you for the reviews :)

**Symptoms Of You**

_One, Two, Three, Four, I love you.  
_

Love.

It was a four letter, stupid, cheesy, overused, mythical, stupid, lyric, word.

Mitchie had never considered 'love' real. Not romantic love anyway. She loved her mother, she would give her life for her. She loved Alex with all her heart and would sacriface anything for their friendship. And she...appreciated Shane. A lot. She liked him also. A lot. Well not a lot...she liked the way he pushed his hair back when he was playing the guitar and the way he sighed deeply when he was embarrassed by his brothers or the fact that he had six different smiles, when he used his guitars according to the kind of song he was playing or the way he stared at Nate proudly when he thought no one noticed. She liked how he pressed his lips together really tightly when he was nervous, and how he tried to cover up his feelings by giving people the cold shoulder. She liked....well everything.

But she didn't think it was love. Mitchie knew love alright, she had seen love.

She saw love in her mother working her butt off everyday of her childhood, trying to give her the best thing she could after her dad left. She saw love in Justin picking up little Alex from the ground and buying her ice cream and a sponge-bob band aid when she was four, she saw love in Jason sacrificing his relationship with his dad to make his brother dream come true, she saw love in Nate when he looked at Alex. She knew love. It was a four letter word that usually turned people's world upside down. And she was afraid to be not exception.

So she might just be in love with Shane Gray.

Or maybe the fluttering in her stomach was the lack of breakfast, her heart didn't really skip beats and the glint in his eyes was just her imagination.

Crap. She really did love Shane.

When she reached the conclusion that she was in fact, falling in love with him she realized it was already too late to stop it, and it was kind of a contradiction because she wasn't even sure she wanted to stop it.

"Mitchie?"

Her deep thinking was suddenly interrupted by Nate's voice and it made her jump out of her chair and smash her head with the shelf that was above her chair. Mitchie grunted and rubbed her head a bit and when she opened her eyes Nate was standing in front of her, grinning and offering a hand to help her up. She rolled her eyes and took his hand and as soon as she was up he laughed a bit and then proceeded to speak.

"So Mitch...I need your help." He grinned and Mitchie rolled her eyes again.

"Don't call me Mitch, I'm not a dude Nate." Mitchie picked her back pack up and started walking out of the tutoring center, Nate following her closely. "But sure, tell me, what about Alex now?"

"It's not..." Nate stuttered and rolled his eyes. "Um well there's this girl...and since you are a chick you know, I thought...maybe you'd know..."

"Yes..." Mitchie nodded and huffed...why couldn't he just admit it was Alex and be over it? "So what's up with this girl?"

"Um well...she's really sweet and nice and has this awesome out-going personality and she's just..." He sighed dreamly but then rolled his eyes and gazed back at Mitchie. "Anyway I think I might be sort of kind of maybe starting to develop feelings that I do not want to acknowledge. ever." He concluded after much stuttering.

"So you love her?" Mitchie grinned.

"WHAT? NO NO NO absolutely no...." Nate shook his head frantically for about five minutes as they walked down the empty hallway until he finally stopped when he noticed Mitchie was still smiling smugly. "Okay...I might be falling for her. But..."

"Oh no but Golden Boy. That's the first rule with Alex Russo, but doesn't exist, there's never an excuse for anything if you do it, it's because you're ready to deal with the fall out. " Nate nodded but then looked away pretending to be focusing on something else. "Second rule, just be yourself. If you drop by at three a.m and tap her window just to sleep besides her she will be cool about it, if you bring her flowers and chocolates she will kick you out. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am. But I wasn't talking about..."

"Nate go away before I change my mind about helping you." Mitchie rolled her eyes and stopped at her locker, when she opened the locker a paper fell out. Mitchie smiled, already knowing what it was, picked up and read.

_Meet me at the store after school. _

She smiled and she bit her lip as she put the note away in her notebook and sighed. As soon as she closed the locker she found Shane standing there, smiling goofy. She mirrored his smile and without a word he took her hand and started walking down the hallway. Mitchie smiled and unconsciously leaned into him. It was amazing really, how much he had changed her life in such little time.

To all the other people at that school she was barely detectable. Mitchie, that weirdo that never speaks. With Shane, it was...different. With Shane she was Mitchie talented, pretty, smart, trust able and just...Mitchie. She smiled and started walking faster towards the tutoring center as soon as she noticed that people were starting to stare at the embrace between her and Shane. He noticed her uncomfortableness so he let go of her waist and went back to just holding her hand. Mitchie bit her lip at the sweet gesture and turned right into the center, Shane following closely behind.

---

"Shane stop staring at me like that and finish those practice...stuff I gave you." Mitchie rolled her eyes as she felt the blush creeping up her cheeks. Shane's eyes still fixated on her. "Shane seriously..."

"Sorry...I can't help myself you look beautiful..." Mitchie bit her lip and Shane just chuckled and turned his eyes to the paper in front of him. As soon as he did Mitchie started humming and tapping her fingers against the wooden table. Shane looked up and smiled, she was so out of his league and still he was so close...if he could just lean closer and...

"MITCHIE!!!" Alex bursted into the room, slamming the door behind her and threw herself on one of the chairs. "So Mitchie what's up? What did you do today besides you know, telling Nate to date other people?"

"WHAT?" Mitchie's eyes widened and Shane started laughing quietly. "Shush do your homework." She rolled her eyes and went on. "I NEVER SAID THAT, What...How...I'm going to kill him." Mitchie sighed as she slapped her forehead. "Tell me exactly what he said."

"Well...he technically didn't do any...saying..." Mitchie was about to roll her eyes again when she was interrupted. "NO WAIT! He did do something! After talking to you." Mitchie bit her lip and kicked Shane slightly, cue for him to stop laughing. "He asked that senior chick out. The one with the blonde hair and the..."

"Tess Tyler?" Mitchie asked and Alex nodded fiercely. "Okay how do you know that?"

"I saw them...talking...you know." Alex grabbed her bag and stood up.

"They were talking Alex, stop being such a jealous freak!" Mitchie rolled her eyes and bit her lip at Shane's laughter. "Alex just talk to him okay...I think he really likes you..."

"I don't know Mitchie...I just..."

"God Alex shut up, just shut up." Shane sighed as he straightened up in his seat. "Shit the guy is even writing songs about you, freaking songs!"

Alex stared at Shane for about five minutes and the room remained in silence. Alex blinked several times and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out...she shut her eyes for a second and then snapped them open again just to grab her bag, that she had dropped after Shane had spoken, and walked out of the room silently. When she slammed the door behind her Mitchie just smiled and grabbed Shane's hand.

---

Alex hesitated for the fifth time before knocking on Nate's bedroom door. Mrs Gray had let her in about an hour ago and she was still standing there, waiting for that characteristic courage she usually had to come back to her. She lifted her hand once more but immediately put it down when the door busted open, Nate looking very sleepy and t-shirtless on the other side. Alex bit her lip and shut her eyes for a second to then open them again and find a very confused Nate staring at her. And then she felt it. The courage kickin' in. But before she could open her mouth, he interrupted her.

"What the hell do you want?" He asked as he leaned against the door frame and ran his fingers through his curly hair. He actually looked pretty pale.

"Woah someone's in a bad mood." She rolled her eyes and laughed a little but he didn't move one muscle. "So can I come..."

"Look it's really not a good time so just go okay?" Nate licked his lips and turned around slamming the door on her face. But of course, Alex being Alex, wasn't going to just walk away that easily. She leaned on the door and knocked lightly.

"Nate...what's up? Let me in, we can talk if..."

"JUST GET OUT ALEX, I DON'T WANNA TALK!" Nate shouted from the other side of the door. Alex felt the tears stung her eyes but she tried again.

"Nate...open the door! What's wrong with you? I'm not leaving until..." Nate abruptly opened the door, this made Alex stumble, before she fell he catched her, pulling her up harshly by the arm. Alex's eyes, were filled with tears once again but Nate's hard expression didn't change. "Natey...what's wrong?"

But Nate didn't even reply. He just turned around and slammed the door once more, leaving Alex just standing there.

So that night when Alex came running to Mitchie's house and cried on her lap all night long she decided she didn't really love Shane. Or maybe she did. But she really didn't. Because this? Her best friend crying all night long? That was love alright.

And she wasn't sure she was ready for that.


	9. I Will Be

_I'm so so so so sorry this took me so freakin' long! I don't know if people still want me to go on with this, if you do I will but if you don't well, tell me...or don't. Thanks btw if you're reading, I love you so much, thanks thanks and I'm sorry and I'll be constant I promiiiise. Thank you for being amazing. _

_Much love._

**Symptoms Of You**

_I'll be with you forever to get you through the day and make every thing ok._

Alex cried all night long.

Mitchie was pretty sure, at some point, she cried in her sleep too. She didn't know if it was possible but it might have been, after all she hadn't ever cared for a guy that much. She hadn't ever cared for a guy. Period. She described the situations over a thousand times, with a thousand different adjectives, and the fact that she had received a creepy text message from Shane at four a.m, she hadn't mentioned that to Alex, wasn't any settling either. So as she watched Alex walking slowly towards her class, Mitchie bit her lip and turned into her advanced Literature class, expectant to see Shane but as soon as she entered she spotted his seat.

Empty.

Something was up with those Gray boys.

---

_Baby you can drive my car, yes I'm gonna be a star..._

"Alex aren't you going to pick that up?"

"That's Nate ring tone."

She simply answered and turned away to watch the preppy cool kids bite each others heads off while they counted the calories on their salads. The phone stopped ringing and five seconds later it was ringing again. Mitchie bit her lip and as soon as Alex got up and muttered something along the lines of going to the bathroom she picked Alex's shiny blackberry and answered the called. In the screen the name 'Hotshot :)' flashed. Mitchie made a mental note to never let Alex live that down, after this whole Gray situation was solved.

"Yeah?"

"Alex? This is Shane..." His voice sounded full of...was that pain? He sounded worried, definitely. Mitchie bit her lip and answered.

"No Shane, this is Mitchie. Alex is in the bathroom. Why are you calling from Nate's cellphone? She isn't gonna pick up, apparently they had a fight or something..." But her rambling was interrupted by a sob. Shane was sobbing, Mitchie felt a lump forming inside her throat and the tears threatening to spill, why was he crying? Why was he crying? Why couldn't she speak all of a sudden? A weak what's wrong was all she could muster up before he talked again. His voice sounded broken and tired now.

"Mitchie I would never ask you to this, but...can you please skip school and come over to the hospital? There's been a problem and I just...I need _you_."

"I'll be there in ten. Do you want me to bring..."

"No don't....just come, only you. Please."

Mitchie dropped Alex cellphone inside her bag and ran towards the exit. She could explain later, right now Shane was somewhere in that hospital, crying for some reason and she just needed to hold him. She needed to hold him and tell him that whatever it was that it was gonna be okay, she had to know what was wrong to fix it and to stop Shane, her Shane, from hurting. So she ran, she ran like it didn't matter, like it didn't hurt, like she didn't need to breath, she ran twenty blocks to the hospital and when she got there she was sure she looked like a sick person. Scared that the nurses or doctors might notice her she threw herself on the front desk and start rambling non stop about who she needed to see.

"Gray I need...Shane...Gray...where is he? Please I have to..."

"Honey, honey!" The nurse said rapidly "Deep breaths, please calm down, I'm searching for him okay...okay. There's no Shane Gray here, Nathaniel Gray was checked in last night though. Maybe they're related?" The nurse grabbed her by the arm and guided her to the couch on the waiting room. "I'm gonna go get you a glass of water darling. Deep breaths alright?"

"Wait! Wait!" She exclaimed and grabbed the nurse's arm "Where's Nate? I need to know...I have to find his brother..."

"I'm sorry baby girl but I can't tell you that if you're not directly related to him, his parents have asked for extreme discretion. Now wait here, I'll be right back." The woman finally got up and left.

Mitchie was desperate, she grabbed her cellphone from her bag and with shaky hands she started typing a text. But before she could finish she was interrupted by a familiar voice, someone had sat besides her and she hadn't even noticed. As soon as he opened his mouth she dropped her phone, her bag and threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his neck and took a deep breath. It smelled like aftershave and his cologne. He was whole. He was safe. He was alright. Her Shane was fine, and he was holding her in his arms and crying in her shoulder and whispering words she couldn't really understand.

She sat down quickly on the other side of the couch and let him put his head on her lap and as she ran her fingers gently through his hair she told him gently that every little was going to be alright. That she was here to make it better now. She sang a couple of songs, mumbled a couple of tunes and recite a couple of poems until he finally stopped crying, lifted his head bravely and looked her in the eye. He looked beautiful, but he looked so tired, so worried, so upset, so...broken.

She didn't speak. She didn't want to force it out of him, she wanted him to trust her. And if he wasn't ready, she could wait. After all she loved him.

She loved him.

"Nate...he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes." He looked down, tears running down his red cheeks again "He wasn't feeling well yesterday and we took him here and...he just...he passed out and I...he could've died." He closed his eyes for a moment and then he opened them again. "He lost a lot of weight over the last six months, he is weak and he just has a bunch of cables connected to him and Mitchie I'm so scared, he is my baby brother, and I can't bear if he....He could've died."

He broke down again and pressed his face against her neck, holding onto her for dear life, crying his little heart out, and she held him like she was the only thing she had left. Because she loved him. With all her heart, beyond romanticism she loved him. She wanted more than anything for him to be fine.

"Shane's gonna be alright. Don't worry. Nate's a fighter he'll get through this. Don't worry baby..."she hushed his sobs again and then started singing. "_don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright..._"

Shane fell asleep on her lap.

---

If holding Shane the whole afternoon while he cried his eyes out had been torture, going back home to find Alex waiting for an explanation was even worst. She knew she had to tell her, she knew she was expecting something from her. She had to tell her. She had to. This was Alex. The same girl who had punch the asshat who stood her up and that had stood up for her every single time, the girl that was like her sister.

"Just tell me." Alex finally spoke up. "Connie said you were at the hospital with Shane. She said one of his brothers was there, and I saw Jason on the store this afternoon, so unless Mr. Gray has a bastard, I'm pretty sure that I know who's lying on a hospital bed right now." Alex eyes were filled with tears all of a sudden. "Just tell me."

"Nate...he has diabetes. Type 1." Mitchie swallowed and went on. "He is unconscious right now...but the doctors say he is going to wake up soon, it's just the drugs and the treatmeants to determine stuff and..." Alex mutter oh my god and covered her mouth to stop the sob that was coming. "Lexie, Shane is down stairs. He is eating something and then we're going back to the hospital, so maybe you want to go? He is going to take a shower and change, maybe you should do the same. Use my clothes. I'm going to take a quick shower and change too and I'm going to be over there the whole weekend. You're not alone Alex. I'm with you. So...what do you say?"

"I'm sorry I can't. I can't....do this right now." She got up and grabbed her bag. "Let me know if anything happens though..."

"Alex you can't..."

"Mitchie, please. Try to understand me. Just...for a minute please try." Alex muttered without looking at her. "I can't deal with seeing him right now. Connected to all those machines, and I just can't...if anything..." she took a deep breath "I just want to remember him as that curly little dimple-ish boy who brought me flowers on occasions and used the cheesiest pick up lines ever. I don't want to remember him smelling like medicine and...What if..."

"Alex you can't be like that. He is..."

"He is going to be fine. I know. I know the whole paragraph. The whole book. They said the same thing about my dad but he is not around, is he?" Alex took a deep breath and turned around to open the door. "Mitchie I was always brave...brave for you, for my mom and Justin and Max, brave because that's all I knew. Nate taught me that I didn't always have to. He taught me it was okay to be afraid and to be lonely and to make mistakes. He taught me to be better, he taught me that I had to be brave and courageous to be afraid." She pressed her lip tightly together and turned to look at Mitchie one last time.

"And I love him."

And she walked out.


End file.
